As President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama begin their meeting today (June 7) in Sunnylands, California, there have been various expectations for the informal gathering, with some trying to hijack the agenda.

Both governments have said there may not be the deliverables people expect since the summit will focus on building a personal relationship and setting a tone for bilateral ties between the two nations. They promise, however, that such a meeting will be helpful in laying the foundation for more deliverables in the future.

So far, top leaders in both countries have been committed to explore a new type of major power relationship, which seeks to prevent the kind of ugly conflict between a rising power and an established power we have seen in history.

Most experts in China-US relations have applauded such an arrangement, which is away from Washington and without the rigid formalities and protocols, as ideal for the leaders to better know each other and discuss a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues.

There are some who would want the two leaders to solve a host of thorny issues in the two-day meeting.

The deep concern that some of the issues, such as territorial disputes in the East and South China seas, may pull China and the US into unwanted wars is understandable.

That is exactly why it is vital for the two leaders to sit down and build the kind of trust that could prevent that worst case scenario. Still, the issues regarding historical maritime territorial disputes may take years, if not generations, to solve.

The same is true regarding disputes in bilateral trade and investment as well as cybersecurity. They will not go away after one meeting, or even nine rounds of talks.

But if top leaders set the right tone, it will be much easier for teams of officials and experts to work on those cases, such as at the annual Strategic & Economic Dialogue to be held next month in Washington.

With cybersecurity making frequent headlines in US news media the past few months, some Americans would like to see the meeting as a cybersummit. However, they're surely unaware of the complexity of the bilateral relationship.

Even US officials acknowledge that China has also been a victim of cyberhackings. And China said many of those attacks appear to originate in the US.

One way to calm those impatient folks might be to remind them of the many prolonged tussles between the White House and the Congress.

There are also some people, backed or used by interest groups or lobby firms, trying to benefit by hijacking the agenda of the summit.

The so-called mainstream news media, which increasingly caters to sensationalism, may be one of them.

We all know what breaking news is on CNN now when every time Anderson Cooper talks about a minor development in Jodi Arias' murder trial. Arias was charged of killing her ex-boyfriend in Arizona in 2008.

No wonder Russia Today anchor Abby uses a giant hammer to break the TV set where Coopers was murmuring.

In his book Obama and China's Rise, Jeffrey Bader, senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council from 2009 to 2011, blasted the Western media for its coverage of Obama's trip to China in 2009. "The Western media coverage of the events damaged both the trip and the administration's ability to manage China policy," Bader wrote.

While the White House regarded the trip as a success, the media had tried to portray Obama as being weak in front of the Chinese, Bader said.

Former US assistant secretary for East Asia Kurt Campbell also complained that whenever US leaders went to Asia, the media interpreted them as to confront China.

While Obama in his first term still cared a lot for the press, Bader said on Tuesday that the nice thing about being in the second term is you can have a somewhat thick skin about domestic pressure on some of the issues and actually look at the long term.

That is exactly the meaning of the Sunnylands summit, to look in the long term of a vital relationship that will embrace cooperation and competition.

The author, based in Washington, is deputy editor of China Daily USA. Email: chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 06/07/2013 page17)